Notebook Stories

JetPens is renowned as a fabulous source of, well, pens… but they also stock a lot of great notebooks too. Brad at Jet Pens was kind enough to send me some samples for review– let’s take a look! These 3 notebooks are give a first impression of sleekness, somehow. The covers are smooth, and they [...]

Sometimes, a notebook is only as good as what you write in it with. A notebook can have the best paper in the world, but it still won’t be enjoyable to use with a crappy pen. Over the years, I’ve tried many different pens, but I’ve finally narrowed my choices down to a few favorites, [...]

This week’s addict emailed me a hot tip:  I just got home from a recent trip to Canada. I am not sure if you know this but there’s a store there called Dollarama and they sell moleskine-like notebooks for $2. They are a good alternative to the real thing and a LOT cheaper! She also [...]

There are so many different kinds of paper artists can use, and so many materials that demand different surfaces. When you’re in an art supply shop, there are multiple options for loose sheets and large spiral-bound sketchpads, but when it comes to smaller hardcover sketchbooks, each brand only seems to offer one option… why? You’d [...]

At the Guardian website, Steven Poole takes a look at a Leuchtturm notebook: The most bruited feature of the Leuchtturm, meanwhile, one to which a circular sticker on the cellophane packaging is devoted, is that the paper is “ink proof”. They are not claiming that the mere addition of ink to the pages causes all [...]

The blogosphere has been buzzing for the last couple of weeks about all Moleskine’s new non-notebook items (not the underwear, though!) The Core77 article has lots of pictures but just focuses on the genesis of the designs without actually reviewing the products. Wired is skeptical. PSFK is enthusiastic. The Wall Street Journal deems the messenger [...]

Someone from the Smithsonian wrote to me about this event, which sounds like wonderful family fun for pen and handwriting lovers! Jot this in your notebook as a must-do if you’re in the Washington DC area this weekend! WHAT: Pens & the Post: Collect, Correspond, Celebrate! WHEN: Saturday, May 29 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. [...]

Andrea sent me these great photos of her notebook collection, with the notes below. Pen and ink lovers, there’s an extra bonus for you! I am student of classical archaeology (hardly working on the dissertation thesis) and few months ago I found your website. I was so glad that I am not the only one, [...]

Do you ever look at your notebooks and wish you had better handwriting to fill them with? And do you ever notice that notebooks from the past always seem to be full of beautiful script? If so, you might be interested in this book about the history of handwriting. In this electronic age, it just [...]

There was a neat article in the Wall Street Journal the other day about the writing habits of some well-known novelists. I’m sure it will come as no surprise that many of them mention notebooks! Orhan Pamuk: “Mr. Pamuk writes by hand, in graph-paper notebooks, filling a page with prose and leaving the adjacent page [...]